E. RUTHERFORD, N.J. - The Bradenton sweepstakes are over and MetroStars coach Mo Johnston has two winners: French midfielder Elie Ikangu and a player to be named later.
They have been selected among a group of 23 foreign players who trained for 90 minutes a day at the Giants Stadium practice bubble from Monday through Thursday. The final session Friday was held on the main field at Giants Stadium.
Ikangu, a 19-year-old defensive midfielder, and another player, whom Johnston declined to identify because the club has yet to put in a bid with the league for a discovery player, will likely join the MetroStars in Bradenton, Fla. for preseason training from Feb. 6-20.
"It was interesting. It was good practice," Johnston said Friday. "It's always good to see them in a different light so we put them on the big field. There were a few plusses and a few minuses."
One player not making the cut is Chelsea reserve fullback/midfielder Joe Keenan.
"I just see different things for my team," Johnston said. "He's done well but I don't see him in my plans."
Ikangu has played with Newcastle's Charles N'Zogbia at French side Le Havre and was compared to Chelsea's Claude Makelele by Johnston.
But Ikangu is not quite as physically strong as Makelele and that's the reason he didn't stick with English League Two (fourth tier) side Darlington or English Premiership side Middlesbrough, where he was on trial earlier this month.
"Middlesbrough had him in but they felt he was too small for the Premiership," Johnston said. "Hopefully we can build him up. He's got all the tools, he's very aware about everything that is going on around him. He's impressed the whole week."
Ikangu said he is looking forward to possibly training with World Cup champion Youri Djorkaeff.
"When I was young, I saw him on TV and he won the World Cup," Ikangu said. "Maybe I will now be training with him every day, it's very exciting.
"I can learn from training with a good player like him," he added.
One player who will be in Bradenton is Canadian international Adrian Serioux, who started for Canada in a 0-0 tie against the United States last Sunday. The defensive midfielder last played for Millwall of the English Coca-Cola Championship.
"He's very steady, he's 6-foot-2, his endurance is good, he gets up and down the field, he works both ends," Johnston said of Serioux. "Hopefully, we get to see him in our own environment, against MLS teams and we'll make a judgment."
Johnston is also hoping to have Ante Jazic in as well. Like Serioux, Jazic could also be that defensive midfielder Johnston has been looking for since Michael Bradley left for Heerenveen of the Dutch Eredivisie.
Unlike Serioux, Jazic, who played the full 90 minutes vs. the USA, is tied to a club, playing for Kuban Krasnodar of the Russian Premier League.
Johnston would love to have Haitian youth international Johnny Exantus come to Bradenton, as well. But the striker, who once scored four goals against Jamaica in a Caribbean Football Union Under-17 qualifier, is only 16 years old.
The club can't sign him to a contract because of the country's child labor laws and if he is put into the Generation adidas pool, he could be selected by any of MLS' 12 teams.
"This week was a big week for me," Exantus said through a translator. "I thought I did well during the week and I'm excited."
Exantus played for the Metros U-17 squad and scored the winning overtime goal to lift the club to the Super Y-League North American championship.
"He's an exciting young kid. He's fast, obviously he's 16 years old," Johnston said. "When you have kids like that, you can hopefully build them into men and become good soccer players."
Dylan Butler is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
